Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Rhiannon for her question. I do not have numbers and the finer detail here with me this afternoon, but she will of course be aware that over an extended period of time, whether it was the planning for the Commission of Audit under the chairmanship of Tony Shepherd, whether it was the Kemp-Norton review, which the minister undertook earlier in the year, or whether it was the extensive discussions held by the minister, his staff and the department before the budget, there has been very significant consultation. What is even more interesting than that are some of the comments made more recently by representative organisations and by individual universities themselves. It is hard to know where to start, because there are so many supportive comments available. Perhaps I will start with the Regional Universities Network, which considers:

… the only way that the sector can maintain quality and remain internationally competitive is through the deregulation of student fees.

Or Universities Australia, led by Belinda Robinson, of whom we spoke yesterday, which said:

The peak body representing Australia’s universities calls on the Parliament to support the deregulation of Australian universities with changes to the Government's proposals that will assure affordability for students and taxpayers.

Ms Robinson also:

…called on the Parliament to remove the ongoing uncertainty for students, universities and the broader community, by moving swiftly to approve the reforms with changes proposed by Universities Australia.

The Innovative Research Universities, the IRU, in its submission to the Senate inquiry on the bill urged:

… the Senate to pass the Bill with the necessary amendments by the end of 2014.

The Australian Technology Network of Universities welcomed the introduction of the bill into parliament, saying:

In a move away from the centralised command and control approach, deregulation will drive diversity and innovation across the sector—

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